


But a Humble Servant

by sinnergy



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Carriage Sex, Ciel is both BAMF and in way over his head, Drunk Sex, Dubious Consent, Grooming, Hand Jobs, INTJ Character, M/M, Mind Manipulation, Morning Wood, Oral Sex, Porn With Plot, Porn with Subtext, Power Dynamics, Power Play, Psychological Warfare, SebaCiel - Freeform, Service Submission, Snowballing, Subtext
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-02-22 11:41:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22282327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinnergy/pseuds/sinnergy
Summary: Ciel had always thought of love and sexuality as human enslavement.He'd been right all along.
Relationships: Sebastian Michaelis/Ciel Phantomhive
Comments: 36
Kudos: 188





	1. Original Sin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate summary: "It started with a hand job," but that just doesn't have the same ring to it, sadly.

Consciousness crept in and settled into various pockets of awareness.

Ciel mumbled in his state of half-sleep and nuzzled his face into the pillow, unwilling to let acuteness sweep him up just yet. He relished in the feeling of sleepiness sheathing his body into a warm cocoon of comfort, dragging his mind back into the embrace of sleep. A dream lingered at the back of his mind, and the already half-forgotten images came back to life.

They startled him enough to open his eyes again.

Ciel made a small noise somewhere between a groan and a dissatisfied moan. Dim light aided his vision. The room was still dark, but the first slivers of dawn crept in through the drawn curtains and dissolved the obliqueness of night. Ciel's eyes swirled to the clock on the wall. _7:02 AM._

Ciel huffed irritably. It had happened _again_ ; he could feel the pressure in his groin, and, by now, he could make a begrudging connection between the half-remembered images of his dream and his physical response.

He knew it was time to get up; Sebastian would be here any minute now. 

Ciel kept his hips entirely still. By now, Ciel knew that if he just ignored it long enough, it would go away at some point.

He may have been a child, but he wasn't stupid. He _knew_ what it meant, but he didn't want to deal with it. 

Or maybe it was much more apt to say that he _couldn't_ deal with it; because he, Ciel Phantomhive, certainly needed all the advantages adults held but could afford none of their weakness; and as so many of his keen observations had made painfully clear to him, sexual desires ranked at the very top of human weaknesses.

It had started a few months ago, around his 13th birthday. He had woken up with a gasp. He'd tried and tried to remember what it was he'd been dreaming about, already he felt the remnants of the dream draining away, impossible to hold on to. It had been like trying to hold water in cupped palms.

Even back then, he had known what it meant. He'd read about it, had even witnessed it in adults, had heard the tales and knew the stories. He had known, and at the same time he _hadn't_ known; he had only been aware of it in theory and Ciel didn't think that any knowledge could have prepared him for the sheer, utter, mind-boggling viscerality of the experience.

"Good morning, young master."

Ciel's eyes swirled toward the figure standing in front of him, and his insides curled at the sight.

Sebastian had a placid smile on his face and his palm submissively pressed against the front of his uniform. "It is to my utmost regret that I must disturb your slumber, young master. Unfortunately, it's already past your usual time to get up." 

Ciel drew in his breath. Thoughts burst forth and brought the first tendrils of horror right along with them.

"Sebastian, I – _ugh_." He shielded his face as bright light plunged itself into his eyes.

Sebastian drew the curtains and bathed the room in light that illuminated every corner of Ciel's bedroom.

His butler turned to him. The light streaming in from the window outside became a halo when it touched him and wreathed his limbs into a brilliant nimbus. "Your breakfast has been prepared. Today's breakfast consists of sun-dried tomato quiche with mint salad. There are sides of waffles and fresh strawberries as well, which I've taken the liberty to bring over with the main breakfast. I advise against having any more of the waffles than I brought, young master; sugar first thing in the morning tends to make you sluggish."

Ciel could smell the food. Delicious, as always, but his stomach gave a nauseated churn at the thought of eating.

Sebastian placed the tray on the table, then walked over to the closet looming in the corner, piling Ciel's clothes on his arm. Once he was satisfied, he went over to the side of his master's bed, peering at him with an expectant look on his finely-featured face. "Young master." Was Ciel reading this wrong or had his voice taken on an amused tone? "It's time to get up."

Ciel swallowed bitterly. "Leave." Upon hearing the almost pleading tone in his voice, a hot scalpel of shame cut through his insides and Ciel cleared his throat, flicking his hand arrogantly. He forced his usual moodiness into his voice as he went on with as much nonchalance as he could muster, "I wish to eat breakfast alone today."

Sebastian's smile didn't falter and neither did the polite gentleness that laced his voice. "Your schedule is quite full and I see no reason why it should be delayed today. I can brief you of the day's schedule while you eat your breakfast, young master; this seems like a far more efficient use of your time."

Ciel shifted in his bed. God, it was _still_ there. "Leave, Sebastian." 

Ciel knew he'd messed up by the way the suspicion flashed across Sebastian's face.

Infuriatingly, it then simmered down to _amusement_. "Young master." Sebastian's voice sounded just the tiniest bit like a tease. "Is something the matter?"

Sweat broke out on Ciel's body. 

_Why_ in the bloody hell wasn't it going away the way it had the other times?!

The more he internally hissed at it to scramble away, the more aware he became of his predicament. Restlessness lodged in his every bone as he writhed on the bed, staring at his butler's face.

He considered using his eye on Sebastian to get him to leave, but after rolling it around in his head for a few seconds, he discarded the idea; after all, even if he _did_ manage to get some alone time, the fact that he resorted to such measures to get it would invariably arouse suspicion. He had never once refused to get dressed before; his astute servant would be swift to draw the connection. He was already suspicious, besides.

That only left one course of action: acting as though nothing was wrong and hoping that his nightdown was loose enough that _it_ would escape Sebastian's attention.

His heart was a drum in his ears as he resolutely pulled back the sheets and sat up. The boy's feet touched the floor and he let his eyes moodily trail over his butler's body, from the narrow hips over his long, elegantly-clad torso and up to his delicate face. 

Ciel dimly thought that Sebastian's face of the same shade as the scrimshaw masks he had taken a liking to collecting, and arranged just as finely.

No muscle on this face moved; Sebastian waited patiently.

Ciel's knees felt wobbly when he stood up, as though they were not quite able to support his weight. Ciel kept his eyes firmly trained on Sebastian's, willing, no, _ordering_ his butler not to look anywhere else but his eyes. Ciel took one hesitant step toward his butler, who, upon seeing that his master was at last willing to cooperate, carefully folded the outerwear and suit on Ciel's bed.

Ciel snatched his undergarments from out of Sebastian's grasp. "I can put these on myself." His voice was as moody as ever, but was that a small _tremor_ in his voice? He narrowed his eyes at his butler. "Turn around."

Surprise spread on Sebastian's face. He did as he was told, however, and twirled around slowly, turning his elegant back to his master.

Breath whistling between Ciel's teeth and gentle heat stinging his cheeks, he opened the front of his nightgown, and revealed his problem. Shame burned hot shivers down his spine as he saw it that his … thing ( _cock, that's what the adults say _, his mind supplied) was still not showing any inclination to curl back up against him. Doing his best to ignore it, Ciel stepped into his undergarments and pulled them up and fastened them around his waist and -__

And Sebastian's voice cut through the tension with the precision of a scalpel. "Could it be that the young master is experiencing... problems?"

Ciel sucked in his breath sharply, freezing his movements. "What are you suggesting?"

"Forgive me for saying so," his butler went on, faint amusement wafting in his voice that didn't fail to prick Ciel's face like little hot needles, "but the young master seems to be displaying quite unusual behavior this morning. It has led me to suspect that he may be facing problems or difficulties. Please do not hesitate to ask me for assistance, whatever your problems may be."

Ciel's heart surged in his chest. "Mind your own business, Sebastian. You are nothing but my servant; it is not for you to decide what problems you may or may not assist me with."

A pause. "You do admit to having problems, then, or am I reading this incorrectly?" Ciel didn't need to look into his face to know he was smiling. "Of course I would love to tend to my own business only, but I have to say with utmost regret that if these problems interfere with our schedule, they do, by extension, become _my_ business as well."

Ciel felt like he couldn't breathe, but fortunately he was a remarkable actor for his age. He turned his face to the side and snapped, "I have no problems."

Maybe he wasn't as good of an actor as he thought, though, because -- 

"Ah." Was that a low _chuckle_? "Is it as I thought -- could it be that -" he paused. "It is not really my place to suggest this, but..." He turned his head to the side so that Ciel could see his jaw, his smooth cheeks, the profile of his narrow nose. His eyes slitted open and warm amber met royal blue. His voice was low and intimate, like a caress ghosting over naked flesh. "Could it be that the young master is facing problems of the rather more, shall I say... _adult_ nature?"

Ciel's eyes widened.

It was all the answer Sebastian needed. "I see." He sighed, turning around slowly. "In that case, I suppose there is no option but to relieve you of these problems."

Dark premonition scuttled down Ciel's spine. "What are you saying?"

Sebastian demonstratively dropped his eyes and shame burned through the boy's body as his butler's eyes swept over his crotch. "It appears my suspicions were correct, young master." 

It became increasingly difficult for Ciel to keep his cool exterior. "What's that supposed to mean, Sebastian?" His right eye twitched. "Know your place, _servant_."

"Ah. You are thirteen years old now, young master. It is only natural that your body would start reacting this way. There is neither a need nor a reason to deny it."

Ciel raised his chin haughtily, defiance written all over his pretty face. "Shut up, Sebastian."

Sebastian cocked his head slightly, some of his silky black hair draping itself over his shoulder. Amusement dusted over his face. Without warning, Sebastian took a step closer, and then another. 

Ciel had to summon his best forces of self-control to prevent himself from yelping and stumbling backward. 

The butler was still smiling pleasantly. "Whether I seal my lips or not, the fact still remains that this seems to be agitating you greatly, young master."

"I'm not agitated!" Ciel ground out from between gritted teeth.

Sebastian came even _closer_. "Do forgive me for saying so, but you are clearly in no state to go about the day's schedule."

The knot of nervousness in Ciel's stomach hardened. "I _know_ that," he barbed, finally giving in to his impulse to step back. A nervous tremor wormed its way into his voice. "If you'd just... if you had just left me alone for a while like I told you to, this problem would have resolved itself on its own."

Sebastian's voice remained neutral. "Are you positive, young master? It does appear to be a rather persistent problem." With that, he carefully slipped his right hand out of his glove, revealing his elegant fingers.

Heat swept over Ciel's face. "I'm _fine_."

Sebastian drew close, _too_ close, way too close, bringing the heat of his body right along with him. It tingled on Ciel's skin like a thousand ants racing up and down every part of exposed skin. Ciel took a step back, then another and another; when his legs collided with the bed, his breath hitched in his throat. Panic started to channel itself into his body, but the butler only took another step toward him until Ciel could _feel_ Sebastian's demonic aura tingling on his skin and could smell his elusive scent and - and he smelled good, of roses and tea and all things nice and -

And he -

Ciel's eyes widened. His heart was on his tongue.

He - !

"Young master," Sebastian said submissively. Through the haze, Ciel saw him bowing slightly.

Was Ciel going to choke on his own heart?

The butler's left hand came to rest on Ciel's hip, steadying the boy and gently lowering him onto the bed. His hand paused near the small of Ciel's back, then skipped lightly over the hard bumps of vertebrae. Ciel shuddered at the feeling of that hand but what the _other_ hand was doing was making things so much worse.

Ciel was reduced to being able to do nothing other than gape at the sight of his butler's hand sneaking into his undergarments and wrapping itself around his -

"S-Sebastian!" It came out as half a scream, half a groan; high-pitched with desperation but infused with the first forebodings of a new feeling. "Sebastian, w-what... _hah_..." The hand around his erection tightened, _squeezed_. Something precariously close to a whimper managed to crawl out of his throat as the butler moved his hand up slowly, experimentally rolling the foreskin over the head.

A corset of complicated emotions bound itself around Ciel's torso. A haze settled over him and he was only half-aware of the fact that he flinched with every one of Sebastian's pumps as though he was being hit. Every time Sebastian's hand rolled over his erection, glaringly bright lights seemed to bore themselves into his body.

What - what he feeling? What was this? It felt good, but in a strange way, so -- _consuming_ , like all his nerves were drawn down to where Sebastian had his hand wrapped around him. They tangled there and _pulsed_ with each of Sebastian's motions.

"Does it feel good, young master?" Sebastian whispered, his lips pressed against the crown of Ciel's head. "Do you wish me to stop?"

Did he?

"I - I!" Ciel raised his hand and clutched at the front of Sebastian's suit, pulling him down to eye-level. The face that looked back at him was distantly cold like it always was, although there was something else there, something -

"I...Seba-Sebastian...I... _nng_.." He dropped his hand, gnashing his teeth together as the shudders racing down his spine became more and more violent. ".. _hah_..."

He didn't need to see himself to know that his cheeks were stained a gentle pink from the heat that had been dragged up deep within, didn't need a mirror to know his eyes were wide and unseeing and unfocused. He was swept up by his own feelings, feelings he had never felt before in his life, feelings that -

_ah_

\- distilled everything down to shivers and gasps and Sebastian's eyes flashing in Ciel's vision.

"Don't -- don't _look at me_ ," Ciel pressed out. "While you -- do this."

Sebastian obediently drew his eyes to the floor. 

Ciel looked at him, at the way his long, black eyelashes splayed across his buttery cheeks, the way his bones were long and elegant.

The young Phantomhive reached his hand to touch Sebastian's face but when another wave of - what was it? Pleasure? - crashed down upon him, he winced and let out an uncharacteristically feminine whimper. Hot shame burned down his spine, both from the noises he was making and the fact that his servant was in front of him, _pleasuring_ him, and because he was - he was -

" _Hah_." 

The thrusts got harder, faster and Ciel could feel his mind descending lower, lower, like strong hands digging sharp nails into it and tearing it down, making it stumble toward -

 _mmh...hah_...

"Young master," Sebastian murmured. His voice slid like honey through Ciel's stomach, pooling golden between his legs. "You understand what's happening to you right now, don't you? You're about to come to sexual climax."

Ciel didn't know if he was about to come to anything. Instead of seeming to come to a close, the tension only kept _building_. 

Sebastian breathed against Ciel's forehead, hot and moist. "You -- are almost there now, young master. I can feel it. Almost there."

Ciel opened his mouth to say something, or maybe it was to scream or to whimper or to mewl, but only hot breath came out. His fingers found the front of Sebastian's uniform and he clenched it in his small fists. He writhed on the bed, mouth and eyes open for noises he could not make and things they could not see. Hies toes curled and uncurled. His fists shook and his knuckles strained to white, and then it started to feel even _better_ , so good, so _good_ , better than anything Ciel could imagine, and then --

Brilliant shards of pleasure shot through Ciel's tightly-corded insides and sent arcs of rapture across the back of his eye and somehow he knew that he was coming.

Ciel couldn't see and he couldn't think; he could only _feel_ , feel the way liquid stardust pumped through his veins in one perfect, weightless moment. He jerked his hips involuntarily and had he been able to see himself, he would have been embarrassed at the way he let out one long moan, the way his arms that supported his weight shook, the way his eyes were closed in sensual bliss, the way a silvery trail of saliva had slipped out of his mouth as he rode out his cascading orgasm.

The most perfect feeling he'd ever had ended much too soon.

The boy opened his eyes. Gasped. Stared at Sebastian.

White fluid was messily splattered across Sebastian's hand. Without raising his eyes, the butler reached into his breast pocket, retrieved a white tissue and wiped every single one of his long, slim fingers until at last his hand was clean of the sticky substance. Then he pulled the glove back over his hand, unreadable expression on his face. 

It wasn't very often that Ciel was speechless. This was one of those moments.

Sebastian finally raised his eyes, and they almost seemed to _glitter_. "I will take the liberty to assume that this was the first time you reached sexual climax. You will find that it is a very effective method to release unwanted tension, young master."

Ciel's eyes narrowed. Anger and shame waged a vicious war inside him and while he was sitting there, torn between two emotions, he did the only thing he could think of that made any kind of sense.

He gave Sebastian a resounding slap.

His eyebrows furrowed into a tense frown, Ciel's voice was strained. Barely-contained temper quivered berneath. "Don't you _ever_ do that again, Sebastian."

His butler spent a moment pressing the back of his hand against his cheek with his eyes on the floor. "Forgive me, young master." He didn't sound all that apologetic. "But you were right about what you said earlier."

Ciel's voice dropped to accommodate the needle it bore. "And what would that be?"

A small smile twitched at the sides of Sebastian's lips, countenance returning to him. "You told me to remember I was your servant. I did."

Ciel sucked in his breath audibly, waiting for his butler to go on.

Sebastian leaned forward; Ciel's spine stiffened at the invasion of his private space, but was rendered unable to pull back as the butler planted a gentle kiss on the boy's cheek. "I am but a humble servant, young master. It is my duty to help you with whatever problems you may face." His voice dropped even lower. "No matter when and no matter what they are."

Sebastian withdrew and the boy released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

Ciel's voice was raw, scandalized. "You-you harlot."

Sebastian smiled. "I would have to disagree, young master. I am not a harlot; I am tied to no one but you. It is my duty to serve no one but you."

The boy scoffed. "So you're saying..." Ciel licked his lips. "You're saying that you will sexually service me whenever I want you to?"

"Precisely, young master."

Ciel snorted haughtily, throwing his head to the side and closing his eyes in moody arrogance. "Don't make me laugh."

"I fail to see the humour in it, young master."

Ciel slitted his eyes open, letting his eyes trail over Sebastian's features. His thoughts swirled back to what had transpired mere minutes ago and hot shame pulsed through his body at the vivid memory. No, he would not, _could_ not let this happen again; yes, he was not going to be enslaved by this, couldn't allow his own servant to please him that way, because it had been _too good_ \--

Something moved inside Ciel's chest and he crossed his arms over it as though trying to tame whatever it was that was inside. His heart was once again dancing at the back of his throat as he met his butler's eyes. He flinched as Sebastian put his hands gently on Ciel's shoulders and lifted him off the bed.

"In any case," the butler said, pulling the boy to his feet, "we should make you presentable."

Ciel's mind retreated as he felt Sebastian's hands, now clinical and detached, ran over his body as he dressed him in various articles of clothing, his movements a little more hurried than they normally were.

He didn't know why he did it, not really.

Maybe it was because, while Sebastian was dressing him and put his eye patch on him, the memory replayed over and over again in his mind, making Ciel want to flinch as hot red shame shot to his cheeks at the hazy recollection. Maybe it was because he drew in his breath involuntarily when Sebastian's hands smoothed out his clothing over his chest or maybe he felt something move in his chest whenever he caught a glimpse of Sebastian's right hand, saw the slim fingers tangle in the material of his clothes.

The most likely explanation, however, was that Ciel simply didn't know how else to express what he wanted to say.

He raised to his tiptoes, caught Sebastian by his tie and tugged at it, causing his butler's face to fly toward Ciel's with a look of pure surprise sprawled all over it. When Ciel pressed his lips firmly against Sebastian's, he could _feel_ more than see the expression of pure shock that flitted across his butler's face.

It was scarcely more than a peck: Ciel tore his lips off of Sebastian's with a start, their lips making a wet sound as they split. 

The tension hung above their heads heavily. It thrummed like a veil of heat cast upon the manor at the height of summer.

Ciel had always thought of love and sexuality as human enslavement.

He may have been young, but he had always had two watchful eyes and he had seen what love and sex did to people around him. The fire in people's loins was what drove apart families, caused children to starve left alone with single parents unable to fend for them; it was love that made those children stay once they'd grown up, surrendering to yet more suffering. Wars were fought over love or sex or both; hearts were broken, discarded and stomped down. People were willing to steal and kill and maim and corrupt for a chance at love and Ciel had always known that he would stay far, far away from both because _he_ , he had a mission, a purpose, and he refused to get enslaved by more things than he already was.

Ciel licked his lips.

But, Sebastian had offered to service him whenever he wanted, hadn't he? And since it was prudent to assume that he would continue to have this physical reaction upon waking up, then...

It was Sebastian who broke the silence this time. "Young master, I regret having to ask, but I will take the liberty to." He studied Ciel with a half-amused, half-curious expression on his face. "What inspired this?"

Sebastian was his. He'd never leave him. He wouldn't kill for sex because he already killed for him anyway; he wouldn't enslave him because they already _were_ enslaved to each other. When it came to Sebastian, the damage had already been done.

And thus, he said it, but instead of what he really wanted to say, Ciel Phantomhive settled on communicating with his butler in the same way he always did. Rather than sentimentality, this was the language they both understood best.

"Don't think this meant what you think it did," Ciel drawled haughtily as he pushed past Sebastian and walked toward the door. "All it means is that I, unlike you, am not a harlot. I actually _kiss_ the people I have sexual relations with."

Sebastian perked up, picking up on the underlying message. He raised an interested eyebrow at his master.

Ciel ignored it. Once he was standing in front of the door, he turned around, studying his butler out of bored eyes. "What are you doing, Sebastian?" he barked moodily. "Open the door already. Bring that quiche or whatever, I'll eat in the dining room today. You're lucky I can't fire you for loitering."

Sebastian smiled and it ignited something inside Ciel, causing the boy to turn his head to the side. Sebastian hurried to the door and held it open, bowing with one arm pressed flat against his chest as the young Phantomhive marched out of the door.

"Thanks," Ciel muttered dismissively.

For a moment, Sebastian didn't raise from his bow, an amused smile on his face.

"I am but a humble servant after all, young master."

\---

Mey-rin didn't often initiate conversation with him. Sebastian knew he seemed otherworldly to her in a way she could not grasp. Knew he was intimidating, too good to be true, never a crease in his suit, never a hair in disarray.

Sebastian knew it had to be obvious, then, that she chose to turn to him while they laid out the silverware on the dining room table, and said, "Did - did something good happen today?"

Sebastian turned to her with a smile. "Good things happen each and every day," Sebastian said mildly. "What makes you think that today is special?"

Mey-rin blushed a little under his direct gaze. "I don't know. You've been smiling, for -- ever since we started setting up for dinner. Humming, even. I was just wondering if there's any particular reason for it." She hesitated. "Especially considering the young master seems to, _uh_ \-- you know."

Oh yes, Sebastian knew. And he had noticed, those glares today that had been even more acerbic than usual. He'd overheard Ciel snap at Mey-rin earlier, voice vicious enough to make her stutter and go pale and nearly drop the tray of tea she'd been carrying around.

And as for Sebastian himself... it seemed like he hadn't kept as close a watch on his body language as he usually did. He bent down to place a candle on the table, and his eyes lingered a little longer on his hand.

A grin quirked at the corners of his mouth. He considered what he could tell her without triggering her suspicion and settled on: "I've been pleased to discover that life has a way of opening up new chapters just as the previous one has started to become mired in routine and boredom."

That had been just enough information without giving anything away that Mey-rin had no choice but to nod, pretending to understand anything he'd just said -- and to lean forward, wiping down the table. Strands of hair tumbled forward to hide her face from his view.

Sebastian hid his too, when he turned to the side to smile.

\--

In truth, Sebastian had been waiting for it.

He'd watched his young master grow, a little more and a little more every month. Had watched his limbs lengthen and heard his voice deepening. He'd known that it was only a matter of time.

Only a matter of time until _that_ demon would awaken inside of his young master, would settle in him and rot like the apple of the original sin. It introduced a new variable to their little game, one potent with passion and thrumming with potential. 

The gates had been opened and the spill this morning had only been the first trickle.

Sebastian drew the curtains and glanced over at Ciel burrowing himself in his bed.

When he walked over and positioned the chair next to the bed, Ciel said, "Don't."

Sebastian acted surprised. "No? Do you not want me to stay until you've fallen asleep tonight, young master?"

"No," Ciel repeated, eyes closed. "I've made myself clear, haven't I? Get the hell out of here for tonight, Sebastian."

Not even this was unexpected. It would be natural for his young master to seek some respite, after what they had done. To seek solace in privacy after the new chapter had unraveled this morning.

So Sebastian only gave a mild smile, nodded his acceptance of the request, and walked toward the door on silent feet.

Just before he reached for the knob, he glanced over his shoulder back at Ciel.

Who'd been watching him, and looked away immediately. 

Sebastian could feel the heat rise in his cheek, even across the distance.

"Until tomorrow, young master," Sebastian said. Then, he sent him a snake-quick smile. "I wish you the _most_ pleasant dreams."


	2. 4 Minutes, 32 Seconds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian pulled on a golden string on his vest and a pocket watch popped into view. He glanced at it, then looked at Ciel fully and said, "I will make you come in my mouth in under five minutes, young master."

Something had changed between them.

Ciel wasn't stupid. He had known that consequences would be inevitable. He had known that adding another variable would necessarily change the output. That was nothing if not entirely logical.

Yet, it hadn't been until a few days ago, when he'd watched Sebastian wipe off his hands with the same kind of half-amused, half-satisfied expression on his face, that Ciel vocabulary finally started to catch up to feeling and he'd been able to pinpoint what it was that had changed. Even then, he had struggled with just the right words.

Ciel had eventually decided that the words  _ heightened tension _ were the best description for the changes that had taken root in their lives. Grown from this root, the air seemed to have become corporeal. It got stuck between them, thrummed thickly with every word spoken between them, trapped because neither was willing to open the window to resolution. 

And Sebastian, thrice be damned, just pretended not to notice it, using his status to act dumb as a dog. Sebastian misunderstood him on purpose, veiled himself with mock-innocence. Oh yes, whatever was the young master talking about? The young master  _ sure _ seemed quite pleased about this morning's service….

Yet he knew to hide his gloating  _ just _ well enough that Ciel could not call him out on it, and so it went on and on it went, the air growing thick with the tension pumped into it from the malignant tumor they had somehow buried in their midst.

Sebastian was so... 

Annoying.

Ciel pointedly looked out of the window.

He put his hand against it, watched the rain fall from the sky, the wind whip the trees, and forced his mind to return to business matters.

The shops they went to hadn't had nearly the selection that Ciel had been hoping for, and the vain demon was exhausting to shop with, but at least he'd gotten all he needed in London. He had received an invitation a few days ago and Sebastian had sorted it to the very top of the pile and made Ciel open it first because it was from  _ her. _

French-British Cultural Exchange evening at the Queen's Theatre. Also the designated meeting point for both the polite society and the respective  _ underground _ ones of each country.

"Are you quite satisfied with our purchases today, young master?" Sebastian asked.

"I would be more satisfied if you hadn't insisted on trying to dress me like a fruity doll. I didn't know you had so much in common with Lizzie."

"Young master, the French are very fashion conscious; you would've made a dreadful form with that bow tie you liked."

Ciel huffed in irritation, but knew that his servant had a much easier time predicting which irrelevant little details would make the best impression. "Fine. Several potential families to look out for, she said. They better be worth it."

He would complain about having to meet them before any actual work has materialized, but at least it gave him the chance to influence her choice.

The Queen was enlisting new nodes in her network, and as a central one himself, Ciel found himself forced to lock into friction with the new recruits. 

Oh well. That bloody event was a problem for tomorrow. Tonight, they would be getting back to the manor soon, and Ciel would be able to have dinner and retreat to his study with a book and a cup of tea and not talk to anyone ever again. Failing that, not talking to anyone for  _ the rest of the day _ would do.

Even this small hope was dashed when Sebastian said, "It was a serious shock, though. So close to her. The pictures we received from Lord Randall were most unsettling…"

Ciel snorted. He should ignore him. He should not even entertain him. He should --

_ Not _ do what he was doing, which is saying, "Do you even grasp the concept of something being  _ unsettling _ ? It was nothing you haven't seen before, I'm sure."

"Oh, some of what's in those photos I'm familiar with, sure. I've seen the wide, staring eyes of the recently soulless -- though I have to admit, it's rare I saw someone smile so beatifically in death."

"It appears that there are worse ways to go than getting fucked to death."

Which didn't explain why the  _ succubus _ had been found dead, too. Ezra Thompson's death had been a shock to society due to his high rank as the Queen's top aide. Only few knew that he had been found dead in a brothel, and even fewer knew that it had been next to the corpse of a succubus.

Ciel had seen the photos of  _ her, _ too, of course: hair brittled down to ash, skin wan, face contorted into a silent scream. An ugly thing, crumpled and used up and dead.

"In any case, young master, how is your general health? It appears that you are quite exhausted today; have you been sleeping well?"

"Thank you for your concern in my nocturnal comfort. My nights have been fine, considering." He hadn't been dreaming about cages, and that was great, but  _ other things _ had started to perform on his mental stage at night. His eyes never left the window.

Distantly, he inspected his hand. Still small, round, with the palms larger than the fingers were long: a child's hand.

Yet his fingers were longer now than they had been the last time he'd pressed it up against his carriage, one month ago.

"Your comfort -- nocturnal and otherwise -- is always of utmost interest to me."

"Diurnal," Ciel said, voice bland.

"Pardon?"

"My nocturnal and  _ diurnal  _ comfort," Ciel said. The gloat spread his lips into a grin. "Those are the only options, Sebastian. No 'otherwise.'"

_ Ha, _ and Sebastian's smile had quivered just a little bit.

He recovered too quickly. "I see," Sebastian said. "It's delightful to see your sophisticated and liberated vocabulary increase, though unfortunately it does not seem to translate to physical growth spurts. Many of those coats we tried on were still too long. What a pity you had yet to grow into that cerulean blue dream of a tailcoat we tried on at Liberty & Co."

Ciel finally swept his eyes from the window back to Sebastian. 

The carriage was awash with a blue glow as the sun light filtered through the cerulean curtains. From the edges of Ciel's eyes, he could see it glint off the blue in the deep black of Sebastian's hair. The blue highlights moved with the bumps of the carriage like sparks of electricity.

Ciel paused, and looked right into Sebastian's eyes. A sharp glint shone at him.

Ciel closed his eyes. When he fluttered them open again, he fixed his butler with a  _ glare. _ "Is this your sneaky way of insulting my stature?" 

Sebastian flashed him his trademark smile. Ciel had no idea how no one else seemed to see how it always bordered on condescension. 

"I would hardly call it sneaky," Sebastian said

"I agree. Too brazen.  _ Insolent _ works even better."

"Young master, your considerable linguistic fluency notwithstanding, the fact remains that you have yet to reach the height of Finnian's shoulders, so --"

Ciel's voice whistled between teeth of condemnation. "Have this for linguistic fluency: shut the fuck  _ up. _ "

Everything Sebastian said or did  _ should _ be submissive - he was his servant, after all, that was true, had always been true, was truer in a whole other way now -- yet 'submission' was the last word that came to mind when Ciel glared at the man sitting across from him.

"I apologize, young master," Sebastian said, and didn't look apologetic at all.

Ciel glowered at him, painfully aware of his own growing anger.

As painfully aware of it as he was of the fact that he had spent years molding his face into a perfect mask of apathy, and yet  _ now _ had gotten into the habit of letting his treacherous eyes betray him. The 'good' one betrayed him with gazes that lingered too long and glares that revealed too much. The 'bad' one would burn, flare up with the anger, pulse heatedly beyond his eyepatch. 

Sebastian had gotten way too good at slipping past his defenses. Ciel needed to assert his dominance.  _ Now. _

A gremlin of inspiration sparked in Ciel's brain. "You said about twenty minutes until we reached home, didn't you?"

"We should reach the estate in about eighteen minutes now," Sebastian informed him smoothly. 

Ciel's eyes slipped back to Sebastian, resting there.

"Do it."

Sebastian understood. Almost immediately, too.

Ciel could tell from the way the shrewdness flashed behind his eyes, quickly covered up by placid politeness. 

Amusement needled just below the surface when Sebastian said, "What do you speak of, young master?"

"You're my servant, Sebastian." His eyes narrowed at Sebastian, daring him to refuse as he bit out, "Service me."

The words thickened in the air, solidified and wrapped around Ciel's face like a towel drenched in hot water as the seconds ticked past and neither moved. For a moment, for one terrible moment only, Ciel feared that Sebastian, against all odds, really  _ would _ refuse; soon, however, as Ciel had logically known he would, Sebastian's face split into another friendly smile and he said, "Yes, my lord."

Of course. The demon would not break the rules this soon. Their game was made up of a set of predetermined moves, just like any other, and if this one was to last for the rest of Ciel's life, they couldn't be disregarded just yet, could they?

Ciel's heart rate picked up speed as Sebastian leaned forward, bringing his by now so familiar body heat with him. A distant part of Ciel's mind wondered why no one else ever noticed that Sebastian wasn't human; his heated aura first pricked Ciel's skin, then seeped through his skin. Then  _ into _ him.

Ciel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Shadows fell over both of them as Sebastian drew the curtains. 

Stretching his body like a cat for just one moment, Sebastian swung over to Ciel's side of the carriage and settled in the seat right next to him. 

Ciel looked away. His heart was beating in tune with the sound of the hooves slapping the ground as Sebastian shifted, slowly scooting closer and  _ closer _ still. A breath crushed against Ciel's teeth as he felt Sebastian's hot breath blazing along the side of Ciel's neck.

He had asked for this, had requested this, so it really shouldn't have been surprising, but he still couldn't help the little gasp as Sebastian's hand curled around the front of his cloak, drawing it apart as he undid it and letting his fingers slide along the material of the blouse he wore underneath. The heat of his touch seeped through the material. Sebastian's right hand slid down lower but Ciel couldn't focus on that now because his  _ lips _ were suddenly next to Ciel's ear and he could feel him,  _ smell him. _

Ciel's heart pulsed in his ears.

"S-Sebastian." Ciel's fingers clenched around Sebastian's shoulders as his body involuntarily turned toward him. 

Ciel could feel Sebastian grinning against his neck as his fingers slowly tweaked the buttons of Ciel's shorts open, fingertips brushing along the flat plane of his stomach. 

When Ciel shivered and heard himself  _ sigh, _ clarity finally cut through the haze into Ciel's brain. He pushed Sebastian away with a start, hard enough for the butler to retreat with a surprised look on his face.

Ciel's eyes narrowed. "Now what are you doing, Sebastian?"

Sebastian tilted his head a little, like those stupid cats he liked. "Young master - you were not in a state of sexual excitement when you requested pleasure," Sebastian said, in that voice that could only be described as  _ smooth _ and  _ soft or - _

_ \- or the auditory equivalent of china tea cups _ , Ciel's ever-overactive brain supplied. What the fuck was he thinking? Right now, he wanted to do nothing more but smash them into a million glittering pieces.

Instead of exploding into pieces, though, Sebastian's voice was as controlled as ever when he added, "It seems my proximity arouses you."

"Your damn proximity makes me nervous. You  _ know _ I can feel your body heat. And besides, have you heard of personal space?"

Sebastian gave him an amiable smile. "Personal space is not what you just requested, if you recall."

Then, Sebastian nonchalantly reached for Ciel's cock and any further retort died in his throat. Just a squeeze, and then it returned to Ciel's waist.

_ Oh.  _

His being rock-hard was indeed tough evidence to argue against.

Sebastian moved closer and pressed his chin against the crown of Ciel's head. The clack of the hooves almost drowned out his voice when he said, low and way too intimate, "It's a perfectly natural reaction. Dreams are not the only way to get erections, young master. Usually, to increase the pleasure, you would --"

Ciel could practically _ taste _ Sebastian's smug satisfaction. His stomach twisted, he straightened his spine, and said, voice firm and authoritative, "I believe I didn't ask you to make  _ my ears bleed _ with your impertinent yapping." He fixed his butler with an arrogant look. "I asked you to offer me these special services you speak so highly of, not to touch my tummy or whatever."

An interesting expression surfaced on Sebastian's face; Ciel couldn't tell if it was on the verge of a smile or a skeptical sneer. Sebastian drew his eyes to the floor of the carriage in his typical brand of faux-submission. His hand tightened its grip around Ciel's waist, wandered lower, lower, and...

Ciel's muscles snapped into tightly-corded tension at the squeeze, and the slow up-and-down motion that followed. It felt familiar by now. Sebastian's palm was a perfect fit. So good at drawing relief out of Ciel.  _ Too _ good, really.

The sunlight that streamed in from outside had dimmed. It cast Sebastian in semi-darkness that seemed to close in on him. Sebastian's hair wavered in Ciel's vision.

"S-Sebastian!" Ciel ground out, hand flying to his lap. He wrapped his hands around Sebastian's, stopping his butler's rhythmic movements. He felt the tide of pleasure ebb away enough for Ciel to take heaving breaths and his vision to swim back into sharp focus.

"Yes, my lord?" 

Silent electricity passed between them.

Ciel drew what followed out on purpose. He wanted to savor this moment and imprint every little reaction of Sebastian's into his mind, to be at his disposal for constant reruns later on.

"No, not like this," Ciel said, lips pursed into a condescending sneer and head tilted back. "With your  _ mouth. _ "

The air  _ charged. _ It took Sebastian a few seconds to find his voice again. He titled his head. He removed his hand. "You wish me to  _ orally _ pleasure you, young master?"

Ciel had not been closer to gloating in recent memory. "That's right."

The light of realization flooded Sebastian's eyes. "Ah, yes." A knowing smile wound itself around his lips. "I suppose humans think of it as  _ humiliating, _ don't they? Do you wish to punish me for making you react to me, young master?"

"You may analyze me as you wish," Ciel said. "But I'll have your mouth on my cock while you do it."

And dimly, he wondered if he'd _ really just said that. _

Sebastian's composure slipped long enough for him to look  _ impressed _ . "That is quite filthy, young master. Have I not taught you better than that?"

"I suppose children take after what their caretakers  _ are, _ rather than what they teach," Ciel said.

And  _ there _ it was. The first glare of fury he'd been able to draw out of Sebastian in a while. At least Sebastian's intelligence was good for something: he realized, immediately, when he'd been thoroughly insulted.

It felt better than Ciel could describe.

The anger on Sebastian's face bled out quickly. "Let's return to the matter at hand." A beat. "Or mouth, as the case may be."

Ciel only raised an eyebrow.

Sebastian seemed completely unabashed when he lifted Ciel with one arm snaked around his waist and gently pushed down his shorts with the other.

Ciel had to look away when his shorts were pulled down far enough to expose him. He was painfully aware of how silly it was: after all, his butler had seen him naked hundreds,  _ thousands _ of times. Back then, Sebastian had always treated his naked body with impeccable professionalism, never slipping a spare glance down when he kneeled before Ciel to rinse soap off of his body. Back then, Ciel had never once felt that little burn of heat staining his cheeks with that dreaded evidence of embarrassment.

_ Intent _ changed everything.

Sebastian's smile was as slow and sweet as honey as he dipped his head down. Ciel drew in a harsh breath, expecting to feel the heat of Sebastian's mouth around him any minute, but -

A tremble shook through him at the touch - even though Sebastian's tongue wasn't where he had expected it to be.

"Sebastian," Ciel growled after the pleasurable chill had subsided. "What are you doing licking my  _ thighs? _ "

Ciel could tell that Sebastian was smiling from the way his lips curled against the sensitive skin of his upper thigh. "I believe humans call it 'foreplay,' young master."

After a while of watching Sebastian nibble at the crook of his thighs and teasing him with his breath, Ciel brusquely bucked his hips, making his erection slip out of Sebastian's hand and up higher. He  _ poked  _ Sebastian's cheek with it. "Quit this nonsense."

Sebastian froze, then raised his eyes. Their gazes fused together.

For just a second, Sebastian's eyes shone with red-hot fury that excited and terrified and titillated and disgusted Ciel, and then he tucked it away again beneath the tight lock that he always kept on his emotions.

"Young master." Was this the first time ever that Ciel had heard Sebastian's voice shake with irritation? "That was not very courteous."

Ciel didn't like the smirk that flashed over Sebastian's face just a few seconds after. It promised no good. 

But before Ciel could decide if he should be concerned or not, Sebasitan went on with, "I see the young master is in a terrible rush. Of course, as his faithful servant, I shall fulfill all expectations to my utmost ability."

Sebastian pulled on a golden string on his vest and a pocket watch popped into view. He glanced at it, then looked at Ciel fully and said, "I will make you come in my mouth in under five minutes, young master."

Oh, God. Ciel's groin  _ throbbed _ at that.

Before Ciel could do anything else, Sebastian's head dove down toward it.

_ wet. hot. mouth. _

It felt different from having Sebastian pleasure him with his hand. Sebastian's mouth felt so much hotter, so much wetter, and Ciel instinctively decided that it was even  _ better. _

Sebastian was on his knees sucking his cock, his lips all wrapped around it, his mouth stuffed full of it like a whore while  _ he, _ Ciel, could just lean back and enjoy the ripples of euphoria darting through him like a king.

He was too caught up in the pleasure to linger on the mental thrill too long. It felt too bloody good, and Sebastian dialed it up faster than Ciel could keep up with without embarrassing sounds and muscle spasms.

Sebastian sucked harder and moved faster, obviously determined to meet his time limit. Soon, Ciel felt his grasp on reality slipping, everything narrowing down to that pleasure and the thrill and the rattling of the carriage beneath them.

Some of Sebastian's silky black hair fell down across his face, obscuring part of Ciel's view. Even so, Ciel was mesmerized by what he could see: the way his pale cheeks bulged, the way his lips were pursed and oh, the sight of Sebastian's mouth wrapped around his cock was probably the most obscene thing Ciel had ever seen.

He had seen very similar things before. He knew where the books that contained erotic art were located in the library. He'd started looking at them months ago.

This was much more explicit, though. The way Sebastian's mouth was stretched around him. Taut lips. And the sounds: those terrible sucking sounds. The breaths. The fucking  _ slurps. _

The lewd thrill made Ciel dizzy.

Sebastian's eyes were open while he bobbed his head up and down, boring themselves into Ciel's eyes without doubt, as if  _ daring _ him not to look away. 

And then the carriage hit a bump, Ciel's body jerked upward and his cock hit the back of Sebastian's throat, and all rational thought ceased because oh,  _ oh. _

The pleasure spiked. It knocked the air out of Ciel, made him twitch and moan and tangle his fingers in Sebastian's hair.

_ hot. tight. oh. _

Ciel grasped some of the strands and felt them slide through his fingers. Ciel's awareness zeroed it to focus on one thing only: the rising tension in his body. It made it hard to breathe, impossible to think. He was  _ close, _ and oh, now Sebastian had started to pump him too and timed the sucks with them, in exactly the same speed and firmness that Sebastian had figured out would make Ciel come the fastest, and then --

Sebastian tore his skull out of Ciel's grip. He moved back. Ciel's level of pleasure flat-lined.

A sparkly trail of saliva spun between the tip of his tongue and Ciel's wet cock. The smile around Sebastian's lips was slow, seductive; the gleam in his eyes, however, was wild, almost feral. "Young master, what do you wish me to do with it?"

Ciel blinked.  _ mouth. yes. no, what? _ "What?"

The rope of saliva snapped. "With your ejaculate, young master. It won't take long now..." He paused, then asked in a voice so mock-polite he could have been asking Ciel about his preferred choice of dessert, "Do you wish for me to swallow it?"

Ciel blinked, stumbling through a thick haze of aroused confusion and confused arousal. 

"S-Swallow?" Ciel pondered this for a moment. The dull ache in his groin interfered with his higher thought processes.  _ Throb throb. _ Ah, of course, this was a question that would come up, wouldn't it? Not realizing this sooner must have been one of Ciel's rare oversights. Sebastian had said that he would make Ciel come in his mouth, and that meant…

"What... what's it taste like?"  _ Should _ he have Sebastian swallow it? But, wasn't it... would it taste gross? He hadn't tasted it, but he had smelled it, on many breathless mornings now, when Sebastian padded at his stomach with a handkerchief.

Something flashed on Sebasian's face that might have been malice, but it was gone so quickly that Ciel could not pinpoint it. "It won't be too bitter, considering your diet. I'll show you, young master."

With that, Sebastian swiftly dipped his head back down and unceremoniously took Ciel's cock back into his mouth. 

Ciel promptly forgot all about the conversation they'd just had. 

Not much else managed to register: He was only half-aware of the fact that he had Sebastian's skull in a tight grip, that he was bucking his hips, that he was muttering nonsensical things under his breath.

It felt so good, too good, good. It blocked out everything else.

Ciel writhed against the carriage, his mouth open and his eyes clenched shut as he concentrated on the sensations. He was close again, he knew this now, had developed a good sense of the lifecycle of his own arousal ever since Sebastian had brought him to that first peak, weeks ago. His toes curled. He could hear himself moan. The pleasure became so intense that he had to wrench his eyes shut and he heard his breath became ever more labored.

And  _ just _ before Ciel reached his peak, the carriage hit another bump and Ciel let out a low hiss as he was jerked upward and felt himself buried to the hilt inside Sebastian's mouth. 

His butler adjusted gracefully, relaxing his throat to let Ciel slide in smoothly, then fastened his lips around him at the base. And then, Sebastian let out the first sound he'd made since he had started servicing Ciel.

It was low and garbled, but definitely a  _ moan. _ Ciel looked down at Sebastian and met his eyes, and there was something so willfully, scandalously defiant in them, as if he was saying, _ look at me, I can do this, and I'm not humiliated at all, you're the one that's losing control _ and ah, ah,  _ fuck. _

Ciel came while looking into Sebastian's eyes.

The moan he was too stubborn to release shattered in his throat, and echoed the waves of pleasure rolling through him. Shards of pleasure flashed behind his eyelids that slowly dimmed in its brilliance and then scattered, leaving Ciel breathless and gasping, small shudders still scuttling down his spine as he rode out the last waves of pleasure.

It was only when he felt soft pressure against his cheek that he realized that Sebastian was no longer on his knees but right next to him.

And when Ciel snapped his head around, alarmed at the sudden proximity, that's when Sebastian leaned into him and pressed his lips to Ciel's in the second kiss they had ever shared.

Ciel's mind reeled. Barely just recovered from his orgasm, he was fully unable to comprehend what was happening for a full few seconds. **_Kissing_** _, they hadn't done that - !_ _They weren't supposed to_ - _!_ -but when he opened his mouth to protest, Sebastian's tongue pushed in.

Ciel gave a muffled cry. Then, he tasted it.

The fluid that had been on Sebastian's tongue slowly trickled into Ciel's mouth while Sebastian continued to move his tongue against him.

Ciel's body tightened at the taste. 

_ Yuck. _

He gripped Sebastian's shoulders harder. He only noticed that he was squirming so hard he was slipping off the seat and dragging Sebastian right along with him when his knees connected with the floor.

Which was just enough of a shock for Ciel's reaction to finally kick in.

He pushed Sebastian away as hard as he could and spat viciously. "Stop! Stop this! What the -- what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Sebastian met his eyes with an infuriatingly calm look. He held up one finger to bid Ciel to wait and drew his eyes to the floor as he swallowed demurely.

_ Demurely, _ Ciel's brain repeated, and broke a little.

Sebastian retrieved his pocket watch and threw a glance down. "Four minutes and thirty-two seconds. I underestimated how excitable you still were, young master. But all the better in terms of making it in time, yes?"

"Are you out of your mind?" Ciel gaped at him. "You fed me my own ejaculate."   
  
"I merely enabled you to try it, young master," Sebastian said blithely. "As I clearly said I would."

"That is a  _ ludicrous _ argument! You said some cryptic things just as I was about to come. How was I supposed to think --" He cut himself off. Of course. Of course.

Sebastian already knew that it was wrong. There was no sense in admonishing Sebastian like he would for another mistake because Sebastian had made this one on  _ purpose, _ and he'd just been smart enough about it that he still had  _ some _ shred of plausible deniability.

Revenge, was that it? Revenge, for that little poke? For making you do this in the first place?

_ Were _ you humiliated after all, Sebastian? 

Were you  _ that _ angry?

Ciel wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of hearing him argue that he couldn't have known because he was too young.

"I merely wanted to introduce you to the taste, young master," Sebastian went on. "Demons quite enjoy the taste of human ejaculate, young master."

"The obscene proclivities of demons do not interest me." Another tremor of anger led him to add, "And you bloody  _ kissed _ me."

"As did you, that fateful morning," Sebastian countered easily.

"Because I  _ could, _ " Ciel blazed. "Because I'm your lord."

"Ah. You  _ do _ own my body, it is true. It is yours to do with as you wish. But ah, my dear young master," and he said something else, something that Ciel almost couldn't pick up because of the  _ screech _ of the rocks beneath them as the carriage ground to a halt, and even though he had heard it, his mind refused to process it.

Sebastian wiped up the stain, from where Ciel had spit. Slid into an upright stance. Walked around the carriage, picking up the scattered items they'd left behind -- an open box of chocolates here which Sebastian had allowed Ciel as a treat after the excruciating shopping trip, the umbrella which had clattered to the floor during one especially vicious bump, and Ciel's hat, swept into and forgotten in a corner.

Ciel's mind was still buzzing as he watched Sebastian slide back into his servant role with the ease of routine: back straight, movements swift, face guarded by careful politeness. Sebastian opened the door and disappeared in the murky evening night before reappearing with his hand offered to Ciel to help him off of the carriage.

Blatantly ignoring it, Ciel bristled past Sebastian.

Then almost collided with Finnian, who came out of the house. "Hey --"

"Watch where you're going," Ciel barbed, and stormed into the manor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might notice that I made a new AO3 account. I've decided to divorce my Kuro fic from my other fandom accounts entirely. It's making me feel a lot better to contain the filth this way. 
> 
> Many, many thanks for everyone who commented! Honestly, I was sitting on this chapter for months and at one point it looked like I wouldn't get over myself to just post it. Without your comments, I probably would never have posted this. 
> 
> This is mostly smut, obviously, but there will be a sliver of plot. This is going to be second to my more ambitious longfic project, so updates will be sporadic. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed. :)
> 
> Next up: a party and philosophy on a balcony. Ciel is mad. Very.


	3. The Sound of the Universe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian leaned in.
> 
> Washed down by the shadows, the boy's bright blue had cooled into a midnight blue. 
> 
> A sea of crickets chirped from the dark pit below.
> 
> Sebastian lowered his voice. "Did you enjoy it when I touched you like I did, young master?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some dubcon warning for this chapter. Also, Sebastian is disgusting.

The aesthetics of decorum, Sebastian feared, were not a value his young master was likely to gain a sudden reverence for.

Nearly palpable air of displeasure followed his young master on the way over to the theatre. It soured even more when time they arrived at the premise. By the time they walked into an opulent opening hall thronging with the excitement of hundreds of people, the displeasure had morphed into barely-concealed dis _taste._

The sensitive little lord. 

Sebastian was the one who _felt_ their presence. A rolling wave of humanity washed over them. Hundreds of nobles came together and then splintered off into scattered hubs of conversations.

A cursory glance: English ladies in lace-tied corsets and gemstones glittering at their throats. French ones with heaving cleavages above flowing Greek-inspires muslins. English noblemen with their stiff spines next to French men who eyed them warily over their first drink of champagne. 

Sebastian could name most of them.

Some of them obviously could name _them,_ too. Dozens of eyes swirled to focus on the Phantomhive entourage. Scrutinized them. Then dropped down to look them up from head to toe. 

His little master's spine went rigid.

The night opened with a welcoming speech. Sebastian and his master stayed at the back, observing the stage above the writhing mass of excited attendants. Sebastian glanced to his side. 

Ciel's one visible eye was glazed over with boredom.

Sebastian silently agreed with him. The speech on Anglo-French friendship and conjoined prosperity failed to capture his imagination. The wars had been more fun, really.

And _any_ way. French, English -- did it matter? Just slight variations of the same human prototype; the same desires, the same fears, the same natures bound and contained and occasionally overflowing their unique cultural bounds. He'd spent many years in France, decades spent in powdered wigs and heels, but the humans he'd interacted with had only been more of the same.

Most of them registered as little more than meat bag prisons for the light of their souls.

The French all came with a queer compulsion to reference Napoleon during every second conversation, though. Which Sebastian found amusing enough.

They were also more debauched, and Sebastian _did_ like that. One of his brothers had found a most entertaining master in de Sade, although the man had lacked this certain flavor of most titillating restraint that Sebastian favoured.

The large orchestra hall yawned still and empty below them when they took their seats in one dark wing to the upper east corner. 

The performance began, and the hall swelled with it.

Human music was one of the things Sebastian enjoyed the most about these curious creatures: the mellifluous laws of tone progression, the sudden reversals of expectations. The best human composers adhered to the mathematical patterns of the universe. If God had any favorites, surely it had to be composers. Why else would he allow them these deep glimpses at divine universality?

But there was more to music than this. People clutched at the railing, wiped at the corners of their eyes, gasped at any change in mood. The _affetto_. The feeling of it.

Sebastian remained unmoved.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched his young master: one leg crossed over the other, one heeled foot bouncing. It clanked against his satin-covered chair in intervals, _click click click_.

Impatient.

Sebastian mentally counted down the moments. Five, four, three --

"I've had enough of this," his young master announced. He uncrossed his legs. "I'm going for fresh air."

Ciel pulled himself to his feet, grabbed his cane from the corner, and shuffled past Sebastian toward the cone of light from the entrance hall.

Sebastian remained seated for a few more minutes. Five, six -- ah, no, his young master was a lot more interesting than this.

Sebastian spotted his small form beyond the balcony's glass doors.

The summer night greeted Sebastian in a balmy embrace. Moist air brought the promise of rain. It would be a downpour. 

Sebastian approached the railing. Glanced at the boy standing next to him.

His one visible eye stared off into a spot somewhere beyond that maybe only he could see.

Of course. Sebastian's young master so loved to retreat into that interesting mind of his. Full of imagination, of knowledge. So apt at weaving both together to arrive at conclusions. And it was the one place Sebastian would never be able to go, and wasn't _that_ a bittersweet thought?

It was fortunate, then, that Sebastian knew indirect paths into it.

"Young master," he began. "You are missing out on a grand cultural experience. Many members of polite society would kill to attend a play at the Queen's theatre."

The boy had noticed Sebastian's presence the moment he had pushed open the doors. Yet, he dragged out the moment, as if he was doing Sebastian a great favor by abandoning his ruminations long enough to bring them forth in words.

(Oh, and what wicked words he'd used, yesterday…)

"I'm sure they would," the boy scoffed. "It's nothing to me. I will need my wits about me as soon as that bloody play ends and I'll have to _mingle._ " He said the word like someone else might say the word 'worms.'

Sebastian sighed.

This was their third social season. The third summer of chaperoning his young master through parties and banquets and weddings and exhibitions.

Sebastian smelled mild perspiration on his young master.

"At least you will not be required to do this dreadful talking on an empty stomach, young master," Sebastian said. "The feast shall be splendid, and perhaps I'll even allow you more than your customary single glass of wine tonight."

Ciel stayed silent. 

He only squinted at a spot far away, beyond the trees that overlooked the theater's many acres of garden. 

Low orchestral music flowed to them from beyond the gleaming windows to their backs.

"Young master," Sebastian said, and fit his voice into a calm stream of polite admonishment. "I must bring it up to you: you sent a most unbecoming look to Madame Lafayette at reception today. As we've discussed, she would make a most valuable associate. And the same goes for the Marquis de Flambertye; he's an excellent candidate for a more intimate conversation… whom you ignored when he was standing right next to us at the reception. He has a boy your own age, did you know? It looked like he was interested in getting to know you."

"A boy my own age? What a selling point." Ciel closed his eye in boredom. "What, do you want me to go dazzle him with sweets and toys?"

"Social events are a game like any other, my young master," Sebastian said gently. "Surely you can figure out the rules?"

A roll of his eye. The boy finally looked at him. "The question is _never_ , 'can I figure out the rules?' It is always: 'can I be bothered with them?'"

There had been many occasions before -- important banquets, meetings, even negotiations -- when the boy had taken the initiative, had sought out the person out of his own volition, herded by the single-minded pursuit of whatever goal he'd set his mind to.

Not tonight, then. Did he still have other things on his mind?

Sebastian smiled.

"You cannot be bothered with them, you say. Why? Because they don't seem rational to you? They don't seem to make any sense?"

"Well, of _course_ they don't." Ciel narrowed his eye. "Don't be willfully obtuse now, Sebastian. You must pretend to like people, find value in what they have to say, make sure your colors match so you don't make poor form. Take care which way you fold some stupid letter, what print you put on some silly calling card. You must not speak first or you'll be ostracized, but then a second later, if you do _not_ speak first, you'll suffer the same fate. All of it is entirely arbitrary. Nothing more."

Sebastian's smile grew. Oh, quite rustled today, was he?

Was it about yesterday? All these hours spent at tailors and shoemakers and jewelers. Pressed up a little too close to his butler while the other patrons squeezed past along the aisles of fine coats.

Or… about what happened _after?_

Ah. Careful, though. His young master's temper was like dry wood. A single spark could set it aflame.

"You are correct, young master. Social rules _are_ arbitrary, indeed. At least the ones you have in mind. You can take my word for it. The customs of humans are silly and meaningless, you say? Young master, do remember who you're speaking to. Consider for a moment how ridiculous your color codes and flower language and convoluted systems of formal address seem to me."

Ciel stiffened, and Sebastian knew that he had realized his mistake.

"Yet you follow them," the boy spat. "You follow the arbitrary rules posed upon you by someone else. By _another species_ altogether. You know what other creatures do this?" He paused for the effect. "My, what splendid intuition I had when I named you..."

His young master's tone was cold enough to _burn._

He _really_ was in a bad mood, then. It looked as if Sebastian had not yet been forgiven. Most inconvenient.

He'd known that his young master still harbored some resentment, of course. Sebastian hadn't known what sort of punishment to expect. Exciting, really.

But nothing had come. His young master had only withdrawn, folded all his emotions back inside and erected icy walls. Sebastian had tested him this morning while undressing him. One drawn-out gaze down, down the slim lines of his young master's torso over his hips to his thighs. And up again, wreathing a trail with his eyes all across the child's body.

It had failed to entice the boy. He hadn't asked Sebastian to please him, and Sebastian hadn't offered.

The little thing had been as cold and barren as an igloo. As if that body of his had gone back to being as innocent of carnal desire as it had been when they had first met.

Sebastian had only touched the boy's body, with practiced swipes of clothing up and down his limbs, but he had not gotten to see any of the boy's mind.

"Young master." Sebastian allowed his smile to grow. "Their being arbitrary does not preclude them from being rational, but fear not; you are not the first human of your ilk that made this mistake."

Ciel's eye lashed at him. "My _ilk_?"

Just a little rise of his temper. A muffled spark, not yet a fire.

What would happen if he added just a little more air?

"What I mean is --" and Sebastian turned toward his young master fully "-- those people who see the arbitrariness of the specifics, but have not yet matured to see the universal application of social norms as a necessary tool of organization."

His young master glared at him.

"The simple truth of the matter is that humans use a commonly agreed upon set of norms to categorize behavior," Sebastian continued. "The details do not matter, though some are far more aesthetic than others. Their effect as a control mechanism does. It is therefore perfectly rational to follow them. Their arbitrariness makes them _more_ rational, in fact." 

Sebastian paused. His eyes darted down to the boy's lips. "If any of this silliness meant anything... then we'd _actually_ have to talk about it. Wouldn't we?"

He met Ciel's eyes. 

The boy waited. Frozen. Observing. Thinking.

Sebastian shrugged. "Anyway. The disparagement of the objective value of arbitrary rules is a common idea. Especially in quiet and precocious youth with marked distaste for the same such as yourself."

Ciel's one visible eye twitched. "People are still following them when there aren't necessary, which is still _stupid,_ and..." 

The boy stopped. Bit his lower lip. Considered. 

Oh, that realization how petulant this had just sounded. Oh, the recognition that he had lost this argument.

Ciel reigned himself in. "Standing around and arguing at an event most decidedly goes against norms, rational or otherwise. Are you going to leave me alone or did you have something worthwhile to say? I don't recall inviting you to follow me." 

"My lord." Sebastian touched his chest and lowered his head. "I have scouted the entire room, counted and catalogued its attendants, and am ready to give you a full report on your best course of action to meet as many of them as you can, taking your lack of patience with etiquette into account. But certainly, I can leave you alone, if this is your request." Sebastian bowed his head lower, and added, more gently, "Is it?"

"... Let's hear that report of yours. I suppose I can't in good conscience ignore the point of all this." The boy snorted and looked away. "I can't be suffering through that impeding barrage of endless conversations revolving around the banalities of who's marrying who and who's sleeping with whose handmaiden for no reason."

Sebastian hid a grin with a bow. "The rumor mills are ever churning, my lord. Sir Beckett is at the brink of financial ruin, or so they say. Madame Audibert has outdone herself in that vision of a crimson dress today, but she's been far less worthy of a wife than socialite, I've been told; it seems she's been charmed by one of their servants."

Ciel merely rolled his eye at that.

Sebastian went on to give the rest of his report. He'd gotten proficient at relaying just the right level of details. Enough so that his young master grasped the significance without being burdened with unnecessary detail. Dutifully, Sebastian even omitted to mention that he'd seen the otherwise interesting wife of Baron de Gontaut commit the mortal fashion sin of wearing a necklace that did not match the color of her dress. How far the French nobility had fallen.

After he'd finished, Sebastian let his eyes linger. 

The boy's little chest rose and fell with each breath. His jugular drummed against the nape of his neck. Sebastian caressed the boy's eye with his own, let them drop to his lips again -- snake-quick, just a hint of a look at his lips, just enough for a _hint_ \-- and then raised his eyes again to fuse them with Ciel's.

The suggestion had been powerful enough, it seemed, because the next thing that Ciel said was, "Your hypocrisy never fails to stun me in its brazenness, by the way. Prattling on and on about the importance of adhering to _norms."_ A glint of his eye. "And I'm not talking about imparting your unsolicited quote-unquote _wisdom._ "

Sebastian blinked.

_Oh._

Were they going there after all? Here?

Sebastian smiled. "Whatever do you speak of, young ma --"

"Quiet, Sebastian. Don't insult me by pretending you don't know _exactly_ what I'm talking about."

"You are quick to anger these days," Sebastian chided. "This may be befitting for our... intimate encounters, but we are at a public event, so I must remind you to keep up appearances for the sake of the estate."

" _Intimate_." Ciel swatted at the air. "Don't bloody flatter yourself."

Sebastian allowed himself a snicker. "You are never boring, young master."

"That nonsense aside, will you defend your hypocrisy or not?' 'The importance of social norms' -- don't make me laugh." The boy drew in a shaky breath. "Tell me, did you mean to do it all along?"

There was only one thing his lord could be talking about.

"You think that I planned it? That the minute you ordered me where to put my mouth, I planned to lay it on your lips?" 

Sebastian met Ciel's gaze full-on, and let a slow smile spread on his lips. "You do flatter me. But I must admit it was nothing but a leap of faith. A creative strike, if you will. No grand plans, and I can't predict if you'll find that disappointing or rather more soothing. I do not start my day planning on how best to humiliate you, young master."

Ciel's eye bored into his. They _dared_ Sebastian to reveal a lie.

Sebastian took the opening with ease. "Since you've asked me such a personal question, young master, I will dare to venture forth with one of my own." 

Sebastian leaned in.

Washed down by the shadows, the boy's bright blue had cooled into a midnight blue. 

A sea of crickets chirped from the dark pit below.

Sebastian lowered his voice. "Did you enjoy it when I touched you like I did, young master?"

Ciel sucked in his breath. "It was ...adequate for its purpose."

"Adequate, you say." Sebastian drew out the words. "How lucky I am, to know that coming from our Lord Phantomhive, known for his stinginess with compliments, these are words of highest praise."

"One should _hope_ you were adequate, considering your surely quite extensive experience," Ciel said coldly. "Yes, I enjoyed it. As well I should. And why shouldn't I? This is what it's for."

Sebastian leaned in a little closer.

Not a muscle moved on the boy's face. "It's an obvious truth once we remember what it is. An act of service by a butler to his master. A libido is a biologically inescapable fact of life, it appears; many men accommodate for it with meaningless visits at brothels. I will never have to pay anyone to have _my_ needs met, because I have _you."_ The boy's lower lip curled.

Disgust, was it? The little fool.

The boy looked him up and down. " _You_ who'll drop to his knees at a moment's notice for me as well as any whore. You are even much more convenient than one, and much cheaper besides. Why _wouldn't_ I take that offer?"

"Wise words, young master."

His lord's gaze hardened. "But let's get one thing clear. You will not initiate a kiss without my express consent ever again, Sebastian, and if you do, you _will_ be sorry."

Sebastian smiled and bowed his head. "Certainly, young master. I was terribly out of line." He peered up through the bangs that had fallen forward to frame his face with the bow. "Yet I am still to service you in this manner?"

"You shall not be relieved of any of your duties, no. You may think of it like you do of any other other task. Just like doing my laundry. Setting my table." Ciel's voice dropped lower. "Emptying my chamber pot."

Sebastian bit his lower lip. "I am once again a lucky butler, then." He chose to words carefully. "To _also_ find pleasure in these acts of service."

Sebastian was not given enough time to enjoy the slide of Ciel's features.

A male voice startled them.

"Oh. _Comme je te l'ai dit, c'est très important que tu_ …. Ah, _pardon_. Excuse me."

A gentleman closed the balcony door behind him. Sebastian glanced at his coat; was it a true design by the famed dressmaker Rose Bertin? Doubtful; the stink of nouveau riche was too strong. The tall boy to the man's side blinked at them out of eyes as big and blue as Ciel's, only softer.

How in the world had Sebastian not noticed their approach? He could not allow himself to forget his duties. 

Sebastian swallowed his displeasure, scored a smile across his features, and took a step forward --

Ciel rushed past him. "Marquis de Flambyerte," he said, voice bright with fake-cheerfulness.

Sebastian stopped moving. And returned to his place on the boy's side, and watched the boy's transformation into perfectly polite English nobility.

Finally ready to do what they'd come here to do.

Sebastian positioned himself behind Ciel like a graceful silent sentry.

And the night dragged on. Back inside, they mingled, and his young master's anxiety loosened after a piece of chocolate cake and a glass of another. Another glass, and he was joking. A third, and people thronged around him.

The child had only needed a little bit of alcohol, after all.

Just after midnight, Sebastian leaned in and discreetly whispered into the boy's ear. "It's time to go, young master."

* * *

The boy lay crumbled in the corner of the carriage bench. Sebastian's coat up to his nose, sleepy eyes fastened on Sebastian.

The boy was garbling nonsense, as he sometimes did when he got too tired. Futile little rants and vents. About cake, and whipped cream. About the people they had met, who he'd liked (a small list) and who he hadn't (a decidedly longer one). 

"And that maid they -- Julia or something…"

"Her name is Juliette Montgomery, young master," Sebastian supplied.

"Just so. Do you want to fuck her, too?"

The boy was blinking against the weights of sleep. Half-delirious already. Of course he would be; all that wine in his little body, the exhaustion. The long night. It was long past the child's bedtime, and would he even remember any of this tomorrow?

The rain had started a few hours ago. It drizzled on the roof of the carriage in a low, monochromatic lullaby.

"No, I do not," Sebastian said mildly. He reached for the boy's leg. Patted down his coat. Gave it a squeeze, and trailed his hand down toward the smooth curve of the boy's ankle. "Close your eyes now, my little master."

* * *

The stones churned beneath the wheels when the carriage came to a halt in front of the manor.

Sebastian swung out of the carriage to tip the driver.

The boy was still asleep by the time Sebastian came back. As dead to the world as he had been during the past hour of their ride.

Sebastian cradled the boy against his chest, and shielded him from the rain as best as he could.

Mey-Rin bounced toward them with a welcoming screech as soon as they set foot in the main hall, but he bid her quiet with a finger against his lips. 

"Ohh -- sorry. Sorry, sorry," she whispered. "The young master is asleep. He's… he's really cute when he's sleeping."

Sebastian glanced down. 

Cute, yes. And younger like this, without that ever-present frown scored across his brows. Soft, molten features. Skin rosy with wine and excitement. 

Sebastian's footsteps reverberated throughout the entrance hall when he climbed the stairs.

The boy stirred at the topmost step. And babbled something, then made a sound like a purr.

He buried his face in Sebastian's chest like a kitten nuzzling its mother's teats.

Inside the young master's bedchamber, Sebastian lowered him on the bed. The mattress barely dipped beneath his slight form. 

The movements were so practiced they were automatic: Sebastian pulled apart the laces on his shoes, loosened them at the front with a digging finger. Pulled them down over his heel and off.

The boy kicked at him. Sebastian caught his foot and held it still. He leaned up and slid his fingers along the buttons of the boy's shirt. Slow and soft, as if parting a bridal veil.

Three buttons, four, five. The slide of silk along the boy's bare arms. The undershirt up over his head. Next came the shorts, and Sebastian's gloved hands brushed lightly over his young master's groin.

The boy lay before him, naked and vulnerable. One hand curled up next to his beautiful face. Dark eyelashes fluttered against the pillow. Eyes roving beneath the lids, caught in a realm between dream and waking. 

The little cock stirred, dark against the boy's pale belly.

Sebastian looked away. Hung up the cloak, ran one appreciative hand over the fine cloth. Folded the rest of the young master's clothes. Laid them out a table close to the door, to pick up on his way out. Fetched the young master's silky nightgown.

And held it to his face and closed his eyes and inhaled.

The scent was like a spray of mild summer rain. Pleasant, sweet, a sour tang underneath.

It would be even better from the source. 

Sebastian returned to the bed. Hovered over the boy. Drank him up with his eyes.

The boy's eyes fluttered open, glossy blue and faded violet.

Sebastian slid the nightgown over his young master's arms, and down over his torso. It snagged on the boy's hard cock. 

Ciel mumbled and bucked his hips.

Sebastian placed one hand beneath the small of the boy's back. Oh, so small and delicate, like a doll; the boy weighed hardly anything at all when Sebastian lifted him up to pull down the nightgown.

A rustle, a shift, and the boy was dressed. Sebastian's hand slid to his thigh, just below the hem of the cloth. He caressed the skin. Pressed a pattern into it.

Progressions. Notes. The sound of the universe. Would his young master understand?

The boy bucked his hips again. When he sank back down, a wet spot stained the front of his nightgown.

Sebastian hovered over the boy. "Good night, young master."

Ciel writhed on the bed. Stirred awake by that delicious need inside him, and Sebastian could feel it, hot and heavy in the air. Tight in his muscles, loose on his face. Bleary eyes looked up at Sebastian.

Sebastian's hand slid up higher. One fingertip danced into the nip where thigh met loins.

Sharpness cut across his young master's eyes. "Go… on." 

Ah. Of course. "But young master." Sebastian kept his voice low. Barely above a whisper. "You are inebriated and barely awake." The back of one finger brushed against the boy's scrotum. "I shouldn't."

His young master frowned. "I told you to _touch_ me."

Sebastian lowered his face. "Yes, my lord." 

It was hilarious, really. That Ciel Phantomhive had finally woken up to some sort of libido, only to discover that it was the most voracious, gluttonous thing.

Sebastian had expected this. Had thought about this often, during the years, watching the boy's eyes roll back into his head in bliss as he shoved cake into his mouth. The boy's mind was a fortified castle, but his body, ah. Delightfully weak as any other babe's. 

This was one of humanity's curses: none of their strength could exist without weaknesses. Only very few beings could hope to achieve infallibility.

His young master mewled. Dug his fingers into Sebastian's scalp, pushing him down. The boy was greedy and inelegant about his pleasure as young boys were, even him, that child with the soul of a hardened veteran.

Sebastian ducked his head and wrapped his lips around the stiff little prick. He suckled along the length of it. He rolled his tongue over it, the shaft, the ridge of the plush head, the salty slit at the tip.

The boy's scent was so strong here. Saccharine youth and sour adolescence. Heady need and musky sweat from between his thighs. He hadn't bathed the boy tonight, but Sebastian liked him even better like this, filthy and human.

The boy moaned softly. Tangled his hands in Sebastian's hair and ah -- a sharp tug, and Sebastian growled low in his throat. 

Sebastian wrapped his hands around the boy's waist -- and _oh,_ it was almost small enough to encircle with two hands -- and pushed the boy up, up along the bed, and Sebastian followed with a wriggle and a shudder.

His own clothed cock brushed against the mattress. Sebastian stilled, and ground down once. A slow undulation from his hips. A spark of pleasure shivered through him.

What would it be like to take a little for himself tonight? Sebastian could rut himself against the boy's leg. His young master would certainly allow it; he was in no state to refuse anything. He'd let Sebastian move him around like a ragdoll. Let himself be held while Sebastian rutted against him. Offer himself as canvas for the scribble of Sebastian's seed. All over his thigh, or perhaps even his chest. His neck. His face.

Sebastian pushed the image out of his mind. He would not be greedy and spoil it all. And the boy was half-delirious right now; it wouldn't do. The boy had to be awake for it, had to see it. Be cognizant of it. 

That which was not understood could not corrupt.

Ciel mewled, high and breathy.

Sebastian glanced up, at his trembling little belly, his tightened fists at his sides.

The boy wasn't looking down now, not like he had in the carriage. He had his eyes squeezed shut, little face turned to the side.

But his young master was sweeter now. Yielding and expanding and softening like a body in hot water. He was shuddering. His little cock kicked in Sebastian's mouth. 

And then the boy's breaths came out in a ragged staccato, _pant pant pant,_ and his fingers curled in Sebastian's hair, and his cock swelled in Sebastian's hair and _ah._ _Yes._

The first squirt hit the back of Sebastian's throat. The second near the front of his tongue.

 _Delicious_. Those thick globs of fluid in his mouth, with the fragments of the boy's soul in them. A maddeningly brief preview.

Sebasitan swallowed. 

And kept suckling his master until he was clean and soft. His cock curled up against his body, no larger now than Sebastian's little finger.

A glance up.

The boy's chest rose and fell evenly. Asleep already.

Sebastian pulled on the nightgown again and lifted the boy, carried him to the head of the bed, and gently, almost reverently, laid him down on the mattress. 

Sebastian's groin still throbbed with a dark ache. That was unusual. And annoying, but nothing that he couldn't deal with.

He could wait.

He _would_ wait.

Sebastian blew out the candles by the door, and closed the door behind him as quietly as he could, careful not to disturb his young master's sweet slumber.

* * *

Ciel broke the skin of sleep with a gasp.

He blinked. Once. Then again. Then a rapid series of them, and the dull edges in his vision sharpened, and his bedroom came into view. He glanced at the clock on his bedside table. The filtered moonlight was just bright enough that he could make out the time.

Just past three in the morning. The mystical time of night during which the manor lay dead in cold sleep.

Ciel felt the drag of it. The dream sunk its grip into his mind and tried to draw him back down into the swirl of sleep.

But no. His fists tightened in his blanket.

He couldn't sleep. _Would_ not sleep.

He ground the heels of his hands against his eyeballs and massaged his temples. The ache lay too deep to reach.

Already some of his most recent memories were slipping through the cracks of his mind, about to sink into the darkest recesses where all the unreal memories went. Ciel wasn't going to let it happen to them. He had to stay awake now. He had to _think_.

He sat in stillness for a few moments. The wind rattled at the windows. Rain dripped against the glass.

And the memories unraveled, divorced from their chronological order. The event. The wine. The conversation on the balcony. The conversation on the balcony.

The balcony --

But wait. _Sebastian_ enjoyed it, too? 

Ciel shifted in discomfort.

Ciel had suspected it, of course, but it was, for some strange reason, _embarrassing_ to think about. So the demon claimed to enjoy it, and really, why _wouldn't_ he? There were a lot of things far worse than cocksucking that Ciel could see him enjoying.

Yet it was still such a strange concept. He didn't think that Sebastian had ever been hard when he serviced him. But then, Ciel had never been interested in his butler's body before. Would he even have noticed?

But Ciel knew now what arousal felt and looked like, but he hadn't seen it on Sebastian, had he? He hadn't even heard Sebastian _moan_ yet, either; or he _had_ , but only that _one_ time, when he, when he…

When he had let out that noise around Ciel when he --

Ciel's body stiffened, his eyes wide and unseeing. 

And what that demon had done to him. Yesterday, in the carriage. How he had put his thing into his mouth. How he had sucked on it. How he, himself, had _ordered_ him to do it.

And then, sitting up like this, with his eyes wide.

Yesterday, after he'd pleasured Ciel, that demon had said...

Ciel's mind refused. Instead, he remembered how Sebastian had looked at him. How his voice had dripped sweet rot. How bloody _sure_ of himself he had sounded.

"Ah. You _do_ own my body, it is true. It is yours to do with as you wish. But ah, my dear young master," Sebastian had said, licked those damn lips, and added:

"I'll claim yours before too long."

* * *

Ciel didn't know for how long he'd been crying, but by the time the first fingers of dawn turned the blackness opaque, he'd made up his mind.

 _You actually think you'll get away with this, don't you?_ _Perhaps you think that I won't even punish you?_

The creature would have to be. Ciel knew how to do it. 

The lusty beast would not escape his wrath.

_Just you wait._

_Just you bloody wait._

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeaaaaaaaah.....
> 
> So yeah. This fic isn't dead, hooray! Depravity finds a way, I guess. I don't have an update schedule for this one, though, so I don't know when the next update will be. Thanks to everyone who commented!! Your comments honestly motivate me so much, I pushed through finishing both of the last two chapters because one of you left a lovely message here. :)
> 
> If you like my writing, I'd be thrilled if you checked out my longfic _Coffee & Cigarettes_. It's an AU SebaCiel story set in France in the 1960's with Sebastian as a philandering philosopher and Ciel as a prim rich bitch. This one _does_ have a serious upload schedule, and it's where most of my serious writing time goes. 
> 
> Anyway. This fic. Next up: Ciel does some.... research. ^^
> 
> 'Til next time!


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